HE WILL forever be the genius who penned all those Kinks anthems, from Waterloo Sunset and You Really Got Me to Dead End Street and Celluloid Heroes.

But since being shot in 2004 by New Orleans muggers, and lucky to escape with his life, Ray Davies has been quietly releasing sublime solo albums. This set collects the best tracks from three of them: Other People’s Lives, Working Man’s Café and Thanksgiving Day.

Working Man’s Café bemoans the price, of progress; Vietnam Cowboys is a criticism of globalisation; No-One Listen is an angry response to officials who dropped charges against the gunman who left Davies bed-ridden.

After The Fall also finds the songwriter in a dark place, but Thanksgiving Day is a bemused look at the American ideal, and Next Door Neighbour is populated by the English eccentrics we’ve come to expect in the Kinkmaster’s songs.

London Song is a sentimental look at the capital and Yours Truly Confused, N10 – written for (and turned down by) his daughter’s punk band – also references his old stomping ground.